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2015 Mayo Senior Football Championship
The 2015 Mayo Senior Football Championship was the 114th running of the Mayo Senior Football Championship, and took place between May 24 and October 25, 2015. The competition was won by Castlebar Mitchels, who defeated Breaffy in the final at McHale Park, Castlebar. Shrule-Glencorrib lost the relegation play-off final, and were relegated to intermediate for 2016. Format The format of the championship saw the top sixteen teams in the county compete. The sixteen teams were split into four groups of four, with each team in a group playing the other three teams once only. The previous year's eight quarter finalists were seeded, meaning that only two of these teams were drawn in each group. The eight seeds were Two points were awarded for a win and one for a draw. The top two teams in each group qualified for the quarter-finals, with the group winners seeded to play against the group runners-up. If teams were level on points, scoring difference was used to separate teams, followed by total score. From the quarter-finals on, the competition was straight knockout. The bottom team in each group entered a relegation play-off, and were drawn to play each other. The losers of each game then played in a relegation play-off final. The losers of this game were relegated to intermediate grade for the next season. Group Stage Group 1 Group 2 Group 3 Group 4 Knockout Stage The draw for the quarter finals was made on 30 July 2015, along with the draw for the semi-finals. The four group winners were in Pot 1 (Breaffy, Castlebar Mitchels, Ballintubber, Kiltane) and the four group runners-up were in Pot 2 (Knockmore, Ballina Stephenites, Aghamore, Garrymore). The dates for the matches were postponed until the Mayo intercounty team ended their involvement in the All-Ireland Championship. Relegation Playoff The relegation playoff draw was also made on 30 July 2015 and pitted Claremorris against Ballinrobe and Ballyhaunis against Shrule/Glencorrib. Two defeats saw Shrule/Glencorrib relegated to Intermediate grade for 2016, ten years after being defeated in the Senior Final. Final The final was played on 29 October and contested between Castlebar Mitchels and Breaffy. This was a repeat of the 2013 decider, which was won by Castlebar. Castlebar Mitchels were seeking their 29th title, while Breaffy were looking to win their first. The match was televised live on TG4. After a close opening quarter, Castlebar scored a scrappy goal after 21 minutes, finished by Danny Kirby. This was followed by another goal by Neil Douglas and half time saw Casltebar lead 2-6 to 0-5. Although Breaffy rallied at the start of the second half, hitting the crossbar and forcing a goal line clearance from Castlebar, another goal by Neil Douglas saw the game ended as a contest with 20 minutes to go. Douglas went on to complete his hat-trick and Castlebar ran out comfortable winners on a scoreline of 4-10 to 0-9. Rory Byrne accepted the Paddy Moclair Cup as the winning captain. Man of the Match was Neil Douglas. Mayo News All-Stars Statistics Top Scorers